There’s a lack of food-safety education in schools that, if addressed, could help reduce the high rates of foodborne illness among children. Each year, an estimated 48 million Americans contract a foodborne illness, resulting in 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths. Vulnerable populations, including children, seniors, pregnant and postpartum women, and those with compromised immune systems,…
How to Keep Bacteria Out of Your Child’s Lunchbox
With back-to-school season right around the corner, the U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to make sure that parents keep their kids’ lunches safe. 
Children are at high risk of contracting foodborne illness because their immune systems are still developing. Children younger than five have the highest incidence of Campylobacter, E. coli, and Salmonella infection in…
Norovirus Shuts Down Arkansas School
Norovirus sickened more than 300 students at an Arkansas middle school last week, causing the school to shut its doors Friday. At least a third of the 900 children who attend Hellstern Middle School in Springdale and several staff either stayed home or fell ill at school Thursday, complaining of gastrointestinal symptoms, reported NWA.…
Food Poisons 849 Students at 16 Sabah Schools in 39 Incidents this Academic Year
Germany is not the only country dealing with a rash of food poisoning cases in its schools this year. At the Sabah Food Safety Carnival, held over the weekend, Malaysia’s deputy health minister said there have been 39 food poisoning incidents involving 849 students in 16 Sabah schools through October. 
Sabah, with more than 3…
School Kids Chowing Down on Healthier Foods, But Who Are the Food Safety Cops?
The good news for kids this year is that they’re getting healthier foods in the meals they eat at school, thanks to new USDA standards that include a call for more servings of fruit and vegetables, some of which will likely be fresh produce from local farms. But with recent media reports peppered with stories…
Nearly Every State Opts Out of ‘Pink Slime’ for School Lunch
Under a new policy that gave school districts the choice, only three states opted to buy ground beef containing the controversial Lean Finely Textured Beef (LFTB), according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA decided in March to let schools decide whether to serve the ground beef component, which is now widely known as…
Lawmaker Would Close California Schoolyards to Food Trucks
For the former law professor who came up with the idea, it just moves around some pieces on the board in the name of fighting childhood obesity. But for California’s fledgling food truck industry, it’s going to pack the punch of an earthquake.
And everyone agrees, it’s new territory.
Food trucks have had to carve …